Door-operating mechanism.



A. E. ZIMMER.

DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION HLED NOV. I5, 1916.

1,236,597. Pate ntedAug. 14,1917.

3 SHEETSSHEET A. E. ZIMMER.

DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM APPLICATION FILED NOV. 15. 1916.

Patented Aug. 14,1917.

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DQOR OPERATING MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 15. 1916.

1,236,527 Patented Aug". 14, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- rrnn sra'rn ATE T FF.

ALBERT E. ZIMMER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO ENTERPRISE RAILWAY EQUIPMENT COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

DOOR-OPERATING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 14, 1917.

Application filed November 15, 1916. Serial No. 131,355.

To all whom it may concern: 1

Be it known that I, ALBERT E. ZIMMER, a citizen of Norway, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Ill1no1s, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in DoorOperating Mechanism, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, form ing a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in door operating mechanism.

In the operation of certain types of slde dumping gondola cars, considerable diificulty has heretofore been experienced in the proper operation of the doors in those cases where some of the doors are located over the trucks as well as between the trucks and all of which are operated from a common shaft. In the type of cars mentioned, the side dumping doors located over the trucks are prevented from swinging downwardly as much as the doors between the trucks on account of interference from parts of the trucks. One common practice of overcoming the difficulty above indicated has been, to provide stops attached to the body bolster and adjacent needle beams against which the doors located overthe trucks, strike while being opened, the flexible connections from the shaft to said doors being permitted to continue their unwinding movement as the shaft continues its rotation to. permit the full downward movement of those doors located between the trucks. Such arrangements have proved unsatisfactory for several reasons, among them, the factv that the doors strike against the stops with heavy blows since only a small portion of the load on said doors can escape before the doorsare stopped, and the fact that the flexible connections from the shaft to the doors, being as long as the flexible connections required for the doors between the trucks, have a considerable amount of slack left therein when the doors over the trucks are stopped;v which slack sometimes results in kinking of the connections, thus interfering with the proper operation of the mechanism.

One object of my invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive arrangement of dooroperating mechanism for cars of the type above described and so arranged that all of the connectionsto the doors, including those located over the trucks, are fully unwound when the doors are in open position and without leaving any slack therein, the use of stops for the doors over the trucks being eliminated and said doors being supported in their open position by the flexible connections.

Another and more specific object of the 1nvent1on is to provide operating mechanism for a series of doors, where some doors have a greater movement than others and where is employed a common operating shaft with flexible connections between said shaft and all of the doors, those connections between the shaft and the doors having the least amount of movement having included therein a lost motion device.

The invention furthermore consists in the improvements in the parts and devices, and

in the novel combinations of the parts and devices herein shown, described and made the subject matter of claims.

In the drawing forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a side elevation of approximately half a side dump gondola car showing my improvements in connection therewith. Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the car illustrated in Fig. 1, the left hand portion of the section being taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1 and the right hand portion on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1, the side dump doors being shown in open position on both sides of the car. Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the operating mechanism associated with one of the doors located over the trucks, the parts being shown with the door in closed position. Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, but illustrating the position of the parts with the door in fully opened position. Fig. 5 is a side elevation of a portion of the operating shaft and the immediate connections therefrom to the door, as the parts are positioned in Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a detail vertical sectional view taken substantially on the line 66 of Fig. 3. And Figs. 7, 8 and 9 are detail perspective views of the hub, book link, and one half of the bushing, respectively, employed with my construction.

' In said drawing, A designates a. car body of a side dump gondola type of car, said car body being provided with end walls 10, side walls 11, fixed end floor portions 12, longitudinally extending central floor board 13, center sills. 14, side stakes 15, needle beams 16 and body bolster 17. As clearly appears in Figs. 2, 3 and 4, the side walls of the car are extended inwardly as indicated at 18 near the bottom thereof and then vertically as indicated at 19, to thereby provide accommodation for the longitudinally extending shafts 011 the sides of the car in the space between the side walls, side stakes, and transverse underframe members. As clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the car is provided with a series of side dumping floor doors on each side of the car, said doors comprising a plurality of doors 20 located between the trucks and doors 21 located over the trucks.

As shown in Fig. 2, 22 indicates conventionally a portion of the side frame of a truck which prevents the doors 21 located over the trucks, from swinging downwardly as far as the doors 20 are permitted to swing and therefore necessitating limiting the downward movement of said doors 21 before the same come in contact with the truck. On the right hand portion of Fig. 2, I have shown a well known form of door operating mechanism for those doors located between the trucks, said mechanism including' a longitudinally extending operating shaft 23 common to all doors, and two flexible connections between said shaft and each door between the trucks. 7 Each of said flexi ble connections includes a hub.24 having an integral arm 25 to which is pivotally con nected a short link 26, the latter in turn having pivotally connected thereto a link 27,

. link 28 and short link 29, the latter being pivotally connected to the upper end of a hanger 30. The hanger is pivotally con nected at its lower end to an eye bolt 31 which is secured to an extension 32 on the underside of the door. The connections above described are so arranged that, when the parts are wound around the shaft and the door in closed position, the hanger 30 is suspended from the hub 24 and torsion on the shaft 23, is eliminated.

' For the doors 21 located over the trucks, I have provided shorter flexible connections arranged as follows:

- Secured to the shaft 23 are two left and right half bushings 33, the same having flanges 34 by which the bushings are fixedly" secured to the shaft 23. Said bushings 33, when positioned adjacent each other form an outer cylindrical bearing surface 35. for the hub36, the hub 36 being permitted a predetermined or limited rotation relatively to -said bushing, as hereinafter described. The

hub 36 is provided with a pair of spaced extensions 37 between which is pivotally secured a short link 38, the latter having pivotally connected thereto at its other end a, hook'link 39, the hook link being forked as indicated at 40-40 to straddle said link 38.

The hook link 39 is provided with a pair of lugs or projections 4l41 whichareadapttially hook shape and which are adapted to rest upon the flanges 4444 of the hub member 36 when the doors are in' closed position. The lower ends of the hangers 43-are pivotally connected to an eye bolt 45 adjustably secured to an extension 46 on the underside of the door 21. As clearly shown in Figs. 5 and 9, the two halves of the bushings 3333 are each provided with a peripheral lug 46' located on the outer sides of the body of the hub 36 and by which the latter is prevented from longitudinal movement on the shaft. Said lugs 46' are adapted to engage shoulders 4747 provided on the opposite sides of the hub member 36, the shoulders 47 being formed as a part of the flanges 44.

When it is desired to open the doors, and

doors, it is apparent that the various flexible connections will unwind and the doors fall to open position. When the doors 21 over the trucks are in their lowermost position, the flexible connections will assume the positions indicated in full lines in'Figs. 2 and 4. But inasmuch as the doors 20 fall to a still lower position, the shaft 23 must rotate after the doors 21 have reached their lowermost position and this is permitted since the bushings 33-33 continue to rotate with the shaft while the hubs 36 remain in the position indicated in Figs. 2 and 4. In closing the doors, as the shaft is rotated in a.

counter clock-wise direction, it is obvious that those connections to the doors between the trucks will start to be wound up as soon as the shaft is rotated, but for those connections to'the doors 21 over the trucks, nothing occurs until the lugs 46 have traveled the distance from the position shown in full lines to the position shown in dotted lines in said figure. When the lugs 46' have reached the dotted line position shown in Fig. 4,'the same will engage the shoulders 47 and then pickup the hub 36which will then rotate in unison with the shaft and wind up the connectionsfor the doors 21.

As will be apparent to those skilled in the art,.the amount of lost motion provided in those connections for the doors over the trucks can be varied as conditions may require by merely changing the relative locations of the lugs 46 and shoulders 47. It

will also be noted that all of the flexible connections are so arranged that, when the doors are in closed position, all torsion on the shaft due to the loads on the doors, is positively eliminated and furthermore, the use of stops for the doors over the trucks" is eliminated and without leaving any slack in any of the connections when the doors are in open position.

I have herein shown and described what I now consider the preferred embodimentof the invention, but the same is merely illustrative and I contemplate all changes and modifications that come within the scope' of the claims appended hereto.

I claim:.

1. In a dump car, the combination with a car body having hinged dumping doors, of mechanism for operating said doors including, a common operating shaft, flexible con nections between said shaft and all of said doors, some of said connections being longer than others when unwound from the shaft, the shaft being rotatable a limited amount without effecting some of said connections.

2. In a dump car, the combination with a car body having hinged dumping doors, of mechanism for operating said doors including, a common operating shaft, flexible connections between said shaft and all of said doors, the connections to some of the doors being shorter than connections to other of the doors, said shaft being rotatable a limited amount independently of said shorter connections.

3. In a door operating mechanism, the combination with a movable door, of a shaft, a bushing rotatable in unison with the shaft, a hub mounted on said bushing and rotatable independently thereof for a predetermined amount, and connections between said hub and the door.

4-. In a dump car, the combination with a car body having side dumping doors, some of which are located between and some over the trucks, the doors over the trucks having a lesser movement than those between the trucks, of mechanism for operating said doors including, a shaft common to all of the doors, connections between said shaft and the doors between the truck, connections between said shaft and the doors over the truck of a lesser length than the first named connections, and means permitting a limited independent rotation of said shaft relatively to the connections between it and said doors over the trucks.

5. In a device of the character described, the combination with a plurality of hinged doors, some of which are permitted a lesser movement than others, of mechanism for operating said doors including, a shaft common to all of the doors, connections between said shaft and the doors having the greater permissible movement, connections between said shaft and the doors having the lesser &

permissible movement, and means permitting a limited independent rotation of said shaft relatively to the last named connections.

6. In a dump car, the combination with a series of pivoted doors, of mechanism for operating said doors including, a common operating shaft, flexible connections between said shaft and each of the doors, some of said flexible connections being shorter than the others and each including a hub and a hanger, the hangers being supported from the hubs when the doors are in closed position whereby to relieve the shaft of torsion.

7. In a device of the character described, the combination with a series of hinged doors, some of said doors having an opening movement greater than the others, of means for closing all of said doors to the same relative position, said means including a common operating member.

8. In a dump car, the combination with a car body having a hinged side dumping floor door located over the truck, of mechanism for operating said door including, a longitudinally extending shaft, a hub mounted on said shaft, flexible connections from said hub to the door, and means permitting limited independent rotatable movement of said hub relatively to the shaft.

9. In a dump car, the combination with a car body having a series of side dumping hinged doors, some of which are located over the trucks and some between the trucks, of means for operating said doors including, a longitudinally extending shaft, flexible connections from said shaft to the doors between the trucks, and connections from said shaft to the doors located over the trucks, the last named connections having included therein lost motion devices.

10. In a car of the character described, the combination with a hinged door, of mechanism for operating said door, said mechanism including, a shaft,. a bushing mounted on the shaft, a hub loosely mounted on said bushing, cooperating means on said bushing and hub arranged to permit limited movement of the latter relatively to the former, and connections between the hub and the door.

11. In a car having a hinged door, mechanism for operating said door including, a shaft, a two part bushing secured to and rotatable in unison with said shaft, a hub mounted on said bushing, connections from said hub to the door, and means on said bushing and hub arranged to permit limited movement of the latter relatively to the bushing, said means including lugs on the bushing, said lugs preventing movement of said hub longitudinally of the shaft.

12. In a car having a hinged door, mecha nlsm for operating said door including, a shaft, a two part bushing secured to the shaft and rotatable in unison therewith, a operating shoulders arrangedto lock the hub loosely mounted on the bushing, coparts when the door is in closed position. operating means on the bushing and hub In Witness that I claim the foregoing I 10 permitting limited movement of the latter have hereunto subscribed my name this 3rd 5 relatively to the bushing, and a plurality of day of Nov., 1916.

links extending from the hub to the door, one of said links and said hub having co- ALBERT E. ZIMMER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, I). G. 

